Sports and Recreation: World Series of Poker Main Event Kicks off in Las vegas
The World Series of Poker Main Event got under on the 5th of July, 2010 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino is Las Vegas. More than a thousand people were gathered as Greg Raymer, the 2004 Champion, kicked off the tournament with his famous words ‘Shuffle up and deal’. But as luck would have it, he was also the first person to be eliminated from the tournament!
This was day 1-A of the Main Event and saw 1,125 players take the floor. Due to the large number of participants, there are four starting days for the tournament: 1-A, 1-B, 1-C and 1-D. Players are given the option of picking the day that suits them best. Players that will be lucky enough to survive day 1-A will return on day 2-A which will be held on the 9th of July.
Besides Greg Raymer, there were two other former World Champions who were in the field. Bobby, “the Owl”, Baldwin, who won the tournament in 1978, and Chris Moneymaker, who won the tournament in 2003. Chris Moneymaker’s victory came over Sammy Farha in 2003 with a winning hand of 4 of diamonds and 5 of spades. He let Farha see the flop with his J 10. Farha went all in when he paired his Jack, but the other two cards on the flop were a four and a five, thus giving Chris two pairs.
It was one of those rare Final Tables of the Main Event where the players weren’t all-in pre flop. But the game has been won in all different styles of play with people from all walks of life. By profession, Greg Raymer is an attorney and Chris Moneymaker is an accountant showing that this is a game that can catch the attention of people from any walk of life.
The tournament often sees quite a few celebrities taking part in the proceedings as well. The most famous being Ray Romano of ‘Everybody loves Raymond’, now participating in his fourth straight tournament. There has been quite an influx of Hollywood stars making their rounds on the poker tables. Tobey Maguire is supposed to be one of the best as he has placed in the money of several big league poker tournaments. Besides that he is reputed to have earned over $10 million in Hollywood home games.
Players will be competing for the coveted Golden Bracelet and the title of the World Champion of poker. This event is considered the pinnacle of the sport and has been played every year in Las Vegas since the inaugural event in 1970. Back then, it was an invitational tournament where the winner was decided by secret ballot. Benny Binion invited six of the best known poker players in the world to come and compete at the Horseshoe Casino to decide who the best amongst them was.
Since then the tournament has grown considerably in numbers. The style of playing has changed as well as the players now compete till one player has all the chips. The prize money has also gone up quite considerably as well. The inaugural tournament had a winning pot of $30,000. The prize money for first place peaked at the 2006 tournament where the winner won $12 million. 2006 was also the year which attracted the most participants, totalling 8,773 players.
Since its inception, only two players have been able to win the tournament thrice namely Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss. As the field of players keeps on growing, it is becoming harder and harder for people to put in repeat performances in terms of getting multiple championships under their belts. But consistency can be seen in the names that appear on the final table of the main event. Most people claim that the real skill is in making it to the final table, what happens after that is luck.
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